A group of family members of victims of the World Trade Center terrorist attacks is calling for the National Sept. 11 Memorial and Museum to be taken over by the National Park Service (NPS), with the nonprofit transformed into a “Friends Of” group responsible only for fundraising.

The 9/11 Parents & Families of Firefighters and WTC Victims today renewed its call on the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, as well as the two states’ governors, to cease negotiations with the Sept. 11 Memorial and Museum Foundation and Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s administration over the creation of an oversight board at the memorial.

The organization advocates that control of the museum be transferred to NPS next year upon expiration of the foundation’s license to operate the site. “It is obvious that the current, private 9/11 foundation does not want any restraints or oversight concerning their out of control spending and gross mismanagement of the memorial and museum, now pegged at a reported incredible $1.3 billion,” said Jim Riches, a retired fire chief and chairman of 9/11 Parents and Families of Firefighters and WTC Victims.